Taj Bradley Makes Twins History with a Feat That Took 65 Years—But Just 9 Pitches

Johan Santana. Bert Blyleven. Brad Radke. Jim Kaat. The Minnesota Twins have had legendary pitchers throughout their history. From dominant strikeout artists to workhorse starters, the franchise has produced plenty of memorable performances on the mound.

Yet, somehow, there were still a few boxes left unchecked. Taj Bradley checked one of them Tuesday night. In the Twins' 4-2 loss to the Athletics, Bradley became the first pitcher in franchise history to throw an immaculate inning. It was an odd distinction to achieve in a losing effort, but it was also a moment that deserves to be noted, in the context of what has been a breakout season for Bradley.

An immaculate inning requires a pitcher to strike out three consecutive hitters on nine pitches, with every pitch resulting in a strike. Bradley did exactly that in the bottom of the fifth inning. And he did it in style. Facing the bottom of Oakland's lineup, Bradley opened the inning against Carlos Cortes. After getting ahead 0-2 on a pair of fastballs, he dropped a 92.3-MPH splitter below the zone. Cortes chased, giving Bradley his seventh strikeout of the night.

Brian Serven was next. Bradley quickly got ahead 0-2 with two swinging strikes on a cutter and a 98-MPH fastball. Ahead in the count, Bradley got Serven to chase a curveball in the dirt. Six pitches into the inning, Bradley had two strikeouts and was one plate appearance away from making Twins history.

Henry Bolte stepped into the box. That's when catcher Victor Caratini recognized what was happening. There was no reason to get cute.

“On the last pitch, that's why I called a fastball, because I was like, '[Forget] it, best pitch,'” Caratini said. “He threw, like, 100 [MPH] and the batter was frozen. That's pretty nice.”

Pretty nice might be underselling it. Bradley painted a 99.8-MPH four-seam fastball at the very bottom of the strike zone. Bolte didn't swing. The umpire called strike three.

Nine pitches. Nine strikes. Three strikeouts. Immaculate.

For a franchise that has existed in Minnesota since 1961, it's remarkable that nobody had done it before—at least, as far as we know. Santana never did it. Radke never did it. Blyleven, Kaat, Frank Viola and many others pitched parts or all of their careers before official pitch-by-pitch data, which stretches back only to 1988. Just to take one obvious example, Viola struck out the first six batters he faced in his first start of 1987. The official play-by-play data does not include pitch-by-pitch breakdowns. One of those innings might well have been immaculate. An inning thrown by Dean Chance or Luis Tiant, somewhere in the dim annals of the club, might have been immaculate, but unremarked-upon. This wasn't a well-tracked phenomenon until much too late for anyone to be rule out immaculate frames for years before the late 1980s.

Still, officially, no other hurler in Twins history accomplished the feat. Bradley did. And considering how rare an immaculate inning is, it's fitting that the sequence showcased one of the biggest strengths of Bradley's game: his ability to overpower hitters with a varied arsenal.

An Immaculate Inning, but a Very Maculate Night

The immaculate inning wasn't the only impressive part of Bradley's performance. He finished with 11 strikeouts, matching his career high. Entering Tuesday, the 25-year-old had already established himself as one of Minnesota's most dependable starters. For the season, he has a 3.97 ERA, 169 strikeouts in 147 1/3 innings and 3.3 WAR, leading the Twins' rotation in that category.

His overall line against Oakland wasn't nearly as clean as the fifth inning. That's what made the loss so frustrating. Bradley was dominant for most of the evening, but two brief stretches ultimately decided the game. In the second inning, he surrendered a two-out double followed by a home run. Then, in the sixth, another two-out rally produced two more runs.

The Twins have been playing baseball in Minnesota for more than six decades. Generations of pitchers have taken the mound wearing a Twins uniform. Some became franchise icons. Others put together seasons worthy of the Hall of Fame. None can say definitively that they mowed down the opposition without even a blip of resistance in an inning, though, except Bradley. Now, he can turn his attention to producing more scoreless innings—less impressive each time they're accomplished, but far more important when strung and clumped together.

What stood out about Bradley’s immaculate inning? Leave a comment and start the discussion.